IT “HAPP”ENED AGAIN
It seems to be “Happ”ening more and more  frequently. That being Ian Happ pulverizing the baseball. This afternoon the Cubs sent half their team to Las Vegas to play the Cincinnati Reds, winning an appropriate 11-7 Vegas style. The other half of the Cubs played the Colorado Rockies in Scottsdale dropping that game 7-4, highlighted by Jason Heyward‘s two run home run. But back to Vegas and Ian Happ. Yup! He hit another home run today.
TOP PROSPECT
Eloy Jimenez has been considered the Cubs #1 prospect since they traded Gleyber Torres to the Yankess for Aroldis Chapman last July. Ian Happ has consistently held that #2 spot. It didn’t hurt that in the 2016 Arizona Fall League, he showed off his switch hitting abilities. As you may recall, he hit two home runs one left handed and one right handed in the championship game. So far this Spring he has launched five balls over the fences, again showing off his skills at the plate.
Instead of comparing Happ to Jimenez and other current players, I want to take a look back and see how his Spring compares over the last 10 years. Don’t get me wrong I’m a big fan. This is not meant as a negative. However, some of the names on this list were suppose to be our future heroes.
Before we see there names let’s just look at the numbers. Looking at batting average and sorted by OPS (on base percentage + slugging percentage) with at bats and the year as perspective.
Are you able to guess some of the players names on this list?
PAST CUB HOPEFULS
Here are the names that are on this list. Can you match them up with their respective stats?
Aaron Miles; Brian Bogusevic; Darwin Barney; David DeJesus; Felix Pie; Ian Happ; Jeimer Candelario; Joe Mather; Kris Bryant; Marlin Byrd; Matt Murton; Matt Szczur; Micah Hoffpauir; Milton Bradley; Munenori Kawasaki; Ryan Theriot; Tommy La Stella; Tyler Colvin
Can you believe that some of these guys every hit over .330 and had an OPS over .800? Like I said I don’t want this to be negative, but we do have to have some perspective. Here are the names attached to the stats:
I know, you all guessed the first one. And you might be saying that those numbers at the bottom of this list aren’t that impressive. Maybe? But remember, we’re only looking at the Cubs. There are 29 other teams that each year of some players that put up Hall of Fame numbers in Spring Training. Seriously, look at Tyler Colvin. Were we talking about TC in 2010, like we are talking about Happ? What about Micah Hoff”power”? I won’t even mention Felix Pie, oops I guess I just did.
EXPECTATIONS
I do expect Ian Happ to become at the very least an average everyday player someday in the MLB. He is first going to have to improve his defense. While he has been lights out at the plate, his defense has been rated below average. So far this Spring he’s only been charged with 2 errors. Playing second base it is going to be hard to find innings on the big club behind Ben Zobrist and Javier Baez. There has been talk about playing the outfield, but so he far has only logged 4 innings out of 89 total. Last year’s minor league outfield innings was driven by an injury. He played outfield until he was healed and then moved back to second.
Being added to the 40 man roster is the first priority for getting Happ to the big leagues. That seems very likely before training camp breaks. Being added to the 25 man roster however will depend on two factors. First, if Happ continues at this pace in the minors, he might very well force a move by the front office to promote him. Second, and more likely, someone will have to be injured. It is very likely that he spends all summer in the minors, even if he is on the 40 man roster. When the rosters expand on September 1st, we most definitely will see him with the big club.
Until then, let’s just see what “Happ”ens!
